We are actually seeing
the entire planet
move towards what
we call “tipping points,”
the point
where we lose control
and no one can really
tell us exactly
what’s going to happen,
except that it’s going to
be big, it’s going be ugly,
it’s going to lead to
even more emissions
and we are not going
to be able to reverse it.

Welcome to Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Scientific studies
from around the world
conclude that the cycle of
producing and consuming
animal products
is directly responsible for
the heating of our planet,
and the consequences
of climate change
are frightening
for humans, animals
and the environment.

The polar ice caps
are melting,
sea levels are rising,
droughts, floods and
extreme weather events
are occurring with
increasing frequency
and drinking water is
rapidly becoming scarce.
If we do not stop this cycle,
runaway climate change
will become a reality,
with humankind being
unable to save our planet.

On today’s program,
we’ll examine
several critical signs
that show we’re on
the verge of disaster and
need to take immediate,
rapid action to correct
our current course.

One of the real problems
that we are facing now is
the amount of people
with respect
to the amount of land
for producing food
to enable those people
to live.
So, the stress
that we’re putting
on land and water
more than anything
is extremely high,
because growing plants
and growing food
for animals
is what weighs more
on agriculture.
And animals
are basically being fed
in order to feed humans.

The 2010 book,
“Livestock In
a Changing Landscape,”
by Henning Steinfeld,
Chief of
the Livestock Information,
Sector Analysis
and Policy Branch
of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture
Organization
and other experts
present the following
sobering facts about
how animal agriculture
has overtaken our planet:

• Livestock production
occupies
more than one-fourth
of Earth's land mass
• Production of animal feed
consumes
about one-third of
Earth's total arable land
• Only one-third
of the nutrients
fed to livestock
are absorbed;
the resulting animal waste
seriously pollutes
land and water

There’s a tremendous
amount of resources
that are needed
to maintain a meat diet;
for cattle
and other animals,
it requires a lot of grain,
it requires
a lot of chemicals,
it requires often
conversion of land.
So it’s a very inefficient way
to feed ourselves,
to rely on animals.

The amount of grain
used to feed livestock
around the globe
could easily sustain
nearly two-billion people
and end
world food shortages.
The large-scale
destruction of forests
to create pastureland
for livestock grazing
and growing animal feed
is alarming, and
once the land is cleared
it can no longer function
as a carbon sink.

In terms of
greenhouse gas emissions,
the clearing of land
required to have grazing
for cattle
and other ruminants,
the livestock produce
a tremendous amount of
methane and nitrous oxide
that gives
soil degradation,
the pollution of waterways,
and there’s a number of
deleterious effects
of livestock management
and use.

So, I think overall,
the meat-based
consumption, just
the ecological footprint
in terms of use of water,
air pollution,
greenhouse gas emissions,
degradation of soil
and so on, these
environmental problems
are greatly exacerbated
by the meat industry.

In the 2009 paper
“Livestock and
Climate Change”
published in
World Watch Magazine,
it is estimated
that more than 51%
of human-caused, global
greenhouse gas emissions
arise from
the continual production
and consumption
of animal products.

In the past, efforts to
mitigate global warming
have focused
almost exclusively
on lowering carbon
dioxide emissions.
But we now know that
although reducing CO2
is critical, even if
the entire world switched
to a zero-carbon economy
and lifestyle today,
it would take
thousands of years
for this gas to dissipate.

For the moment,
it hasn’t been
highlighted enough.
Mostly we care about
emissions by cars
or, by industry, but also
there is an issue
with cattle contributing
to the emissions.

The focus is mainly
on CO2, but we need
an effort on all gases.
So it is important to focus
on other gases than CO2.

Confined animal feeding
operations or CAFOs
produce 400
different gases,
including the short
atmospheric lifetime
greenhouse gases
hydrogen sulfide,
nitrous oxide and
methane, all of which
have a powerful impact
on global warming.
Over a 20-year period,
methane alone
has 72 times
the global warming
potential of carbon dioxide.
By far the largest source
of anthropogenic
methane emissions
is the livestock industry
and we may not even be
correctly accounting for
the amounts
this industry releases.

In June 2010 scientists
at the University
of Missouri, USA
concluded that
the method used by
the US Environmental
Protection Agency
to measure
methane emissions from
manure lagoons, pits
which sometimes hold
millions of liters
of animal waste
from factory farms,
underestimates
the true amount released
by as much as 65%.

A global shift
from a meat-based
to a plant-based diet
will reduce the effects
of global warming
much more dramatically
than will a reduction
in the use of fossil fuels.
Thus driving less
and using energy-saving
light bulbs,
though wise choices,
cannot quickly cool
our planet
like halting the madness
that is animal agriculture,
a completely unnecessary
activity that’s putting
all life on Earth at risk.

When we return,
we’ll examine
the role of subsidies
for livestock farming
and their relation to
environmental damage.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.

So, these are the years
where we have a choice,
we can either move
past the tipping points
or we cannot.
But if we start seeing things
like the crash of
the Amazon ecosystem or
the Greenland ice sheets
melt, then our children
will not have the choices
we have today.

Welcome back to today’s
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home
on Supreme Master
Television,
focusing on
animal products, including
meat, fish, eggs and dairy
as the primary drivers
of climate change and
the need to quickly end
their consumption.
The ecological costs
of meat eating
are tremendous, from
accelerating deforestation
and desertification
to causing the loss
of arable land,
warming our planet and
making the polar ice caps
disappear.

In light of these facts,
how can hamburgers,
for example, be sold at
such affordable prices?
The chief reason is
government subsidies
cover the real costs
of meat production and
make consumers unaware
that they are literally
eating up Earth’s
precious resources
with every bite they take.

Regarding this issue,
fourth-generation
US cattle rancher-turned-
vegan Howard Lyman
states, "In the US
we can buy a hamburger
for 79 cents.
If the American taxpayer
was not involved
in subsidizing
the beef industry,
the same hamburger meat
would cost over US$12.
Meat in America today
would cost US$48 a pound
if it were not for
the American taxpayers
subsidizing the grain,
the irrigation water,
the electricity
[and] the grazing
on public lands.”

Supreme Master Ching Hai,
who is deeply concerned
about our planet’s future,
has also addressed
the critical question
of subsidies
for animal products.

We are the ones who
are paying the industry
to continue producing
this problem, producing
meat, fish and the like,
with our hard earned
tax money that’s used
to subsidize them.
Ironic?
And all the while, we are
suffering from illness,
losing lives, grieving
over lost loved ones,
family members;
losing happiness;
losing money
due to the animal diet.

The government
could, of course, redirect
the billions of dollars
now spent on
livestock subsidies to
help farmers switch to
organic vegetable
and fruit agriculture.
The government could
use these powerful tools to
spread campaigns about
veg alternatives,
bans on meat, and laws
to help people switch to
organic, vegan farming
and consumption.

A global switch
to a veg diet
could even save
the world governments
a lot of money,
as much as 80% of all the
climate mitigation costs
of US$40 trillion
by the year 2050.
That is, we save
US$32 trillion in
climate mitigation costs,
and having a healthy
vegan population
is a good deal,
good business deal
in all positive aspects.

Senior policy advisor
to the United Nations
Development Programme
and vegan Dr. Charles
Ian McNeill agrees
that it’s an utter waste
to provide money
to an industry
that is destroying
our one and only home.

It would be important
to remove subsidies;
there are government
subsidies and investments
in encouraging
a meat diet, and I think
those subsidies
should disappear.
What would be important
for people
to make their choice
is to have access
to good, accurate,
up-to- date information
about the impact
of a meat-based diet
on the planet
and on their health.
I think many of us
have grown up with
a particular way of life
that we’ve inherited
from some generations,
unexamined, and
the world is now different.

To meet the greatest
challenge that humanity
has ever faced, please
act as an ambassador
for our planet and
spread the urgent message
that if we all lead the
organic, vegan lifestyle,
this will ensure
that we never reach
the tipping points
that lead to
runaway climate change.

We can all play the role
of planetary hero
and inform our friends
and families
that the plant-based diet
is the most
Earth-protective step
we can take.
The good news
of the vegan solution
can be distributed
via the Internet, e-mail,
magazines and
school programs.
Letting companies know
we only want
animal-free products
is important as well.

I am a vegan,
mostly raw vegan and
I’ve been very impressed
by the impact
on my personal health,
but also
equally importantly,
and perhaps
even more importantly, is
the impact of a vegan diet
on the planet.
And one of the
most encouraging things
that I’ve discovered
is that the same behavior
that is producing
great benefits
for my personal health
is also providing value
for the planet
in terms of reducing
my carbon footprint.

We all have
individual choices;
actually, our individual
and collective choices
have everything to do
with the options
that are offered.
That if we ask for
vegetarian and vegan
options in restaurants
and in grocery stores,
we can shift
what’s made available.
We can also
shift the marketplace
by providing markets
for organic,
locally produced products
so we as individuals,
individually and
collectively can influence
how markets go.

It’s a responsibility for
each of us as individuals;
we need to make choices
in our lifestyle.
Many of us think, “Well,
I’m just one person,
it doesn’t
make a difference.”
Mahatma Gandhi
and other great leaders
have shown
that the individual
does make a difference,
that each one of us and
the commitments we make
and the way
we live our lives
provides an example
for others.

Thank you
for your kind company
on today’s edition of
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment
after Noteworthy News.
May our planet
soon reach stability
through our loving care
for all beings
and preservation of life.